Left: Stanley Isaacs (GoFundMe). Inset: The Laguna Beach, California, intersection where Isaacs was killed in a hit-and-run crash (Google Maps).
A California woman has been convicted after striking a couple who were crossing a Laguna Beach street after celebrating their wedding anniversary, killing the husband and injuring his wife.
Sysillia Kianna Morrison Montes De Oca was found guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run causing serious injury, and failing to stop after a hit-and-run in connection with the death of 60-year-old Stanley Isaacs.
Montes De Oca was 18 when she was driving a Volkswagen Jetta in Laguna Beach shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2022. At the same time, Isaacs and his wife were leaving a nearby restaurant after marking their anniversary. As they crossed the road, prosecutors said Montes De Oca struck them with the vehicle.
Isaacs was later pronounced dead, while his wife survived with injuries. Montes De Oca did not remain at the scene and continued driving, authorities said.
According to a courtroom report from the Orange County Register, Isaacs suffered catastrophic injuries, including an internal decapitation, a fractured skull, a broken spine and what were described as “smashed ribs.”
Following the collision, Montes De Oca allegedly looked online for reports about fatal hit-and-run crashes and returned to the area, though she did not surrender at that point. Evidence presented in court also indicated she had smoked marijuana earlier that day and told others in the vehicle that she was accelerating shortly before the crash.
“It was not an ordinary mistake,” Deputy District Attorney Justin Kim told jurors, according to the Register.
Prosecutors said Montes De Oca asked a friend to conceal the Jetta. She ultimately turned herself in to police roughly two weeks after the crash.
During closing arguments, her defense attorney reportedly said she panicked in the aftermath and fled after friends encouraged her to leave. The attorney emphasized that she later surrendered and argued that her precise speed at the time of the collision was never definitively established.
Isaacs’ stepdaughter described him in a GoFundMe as a “loving father, grandfather, brother, son and husband.”
“My step dad was one of a kind, when he walked into any room you couldn’t miss his gracious smile. He never failed to bring joy to the people in his lives. He is loved by so many people, he was unforgettable,” she wrote.
Montes De Oca is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13.
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